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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · race · wake · dip · hand · tube · mine · vault

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. vault — a safe
  6. race — the arms race
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. wake — a trail
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. race — a contest
  12. cold — an illness
  13. hand — in cards
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. dip — to sink
  16. race — humankind
  17. tube — the underground
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. tube — a container
  24. hand — help

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com